The Deer in the Mountains
by Lyuh
Summary: "Sacae is the land of endless plains. It is not the land of endless trees, nor of trees that never end." Challenge! 2/10


A note: Pretty sure this is unadulterated crap.

* * *

"You've never been hunting before? Really?"

Sue shrugged a little bit, offering her palms to the skies in some hope of an explanation other than the sad truth. "In the Kutolah tribe, the men are the ones who do the hunting."

Wolt made some sort of confused, pathetic face. She really wasn't sure what he was trying to emote. "How are you such a good shot, then?"

"I was taught how to use a bow in case I needed to defend myself, as all our women are. Shin used to go with me to practice every day. I owe my skill to him."

"That makes sense." The boy stepped from foot to foot, staring at something in the distance. Sue couldn't tell what, except for maybe the thick forest by which they were camped. He seemed to be thinking deeply. This proved to be correct when he finally snapped back to attention, looking down at her with another unreadable expression. "Well, I go out every morning to help my father out. You can come with me, if you'd like."

"Are you certain?"

"Y-yeah. I mean, if you wanna try it out and all. You don't have to feel obligated to come, or anything."

Sue valiantly suppressed a laugh that would have been at his expense. "You don't have to be so uptight. I would like to go."

His voice shot up an octave and a half. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Great!" He was grinning now, almost bouncing as he struggled to contain his excitement. "I'll come wake you up when it's time to go!"

Sue nodded in contemplation as he bounded off towards the central part of their camp, having just enough time to bid him farewell before he was out of earshot. Bern was unlike Sacae; the bits and pieces of information she had picked up on hunting back home were likely to be rendered useless in the mountainous terrain. She didn't want to make a fool of herself...

But, then again, Wolt never failed to entertain her. Even if she did fail miserably, she doubted that he would let her stay upset for long.

* * *

The morning air in the mountains of Bern was crisp and fresh despite all the ruin that the country had brought upon the rest of the continent. Sue supposed that this would be true almost anywhere, but that didn't stop the bad taste in her mouth when she thought of it. Bern was beautiful. How could any of the kingdom's soldiers believe that the lands elsewhere could be any better? She knew that most of their enemies didn't know about the dragons among their ranks. The common enemy was being fed lies about Zephiel's conquest – the only prize of the war would be the lands of the rest of Elibe.

There was a lot about these knights and kings that she just couldn't bring herself to understand.

At least she could get along with a few of these foreigners. Lord Roy was still young and idealistic; he hadn't turned into one of those power-hungry nobles that the commoners often brooded over. He was smart, enough so to be sly at times, but she hadn't heard many tales of this outside of his political life. He was still a little too honest, perhaps awkward, when it came to true socialization (or so she'd heard).

And then there was Wolt. After joining the small army, she'd heard through the grapevine of Roy's conflict with his childhood friend. In turn, she had been wary of meeting this other Pheraen boy. She hadn't known what this conflict had encompassed, or if it was anything she should bother with remembering at the time. The first time she and Wolt struck up conversation with each other was in Ostia, while Roy was having a near-breakdown worrying about Lilina.

Wolt had already known her name, presumably from the whole rescue affair. (Everybody seemed to know her name, if she cared to ponder on that.) She had been surprised to find that he wasn't what she had expected. His demeanor was the opposite of cold and uncaring. In fact, everything about him – from the way he stood, to the way his hair stood up from that rather unfortunate cowlick, and even his perpetual confusion – made her want to do nothing but smile. He was... refreshing, in a way.

He was always smiling and taking the utmost care in his duties. Even something as simple as stringing a bow garnered his full attention, even before sunrise. "Are you ready to start?" he asked her as he worked the string down into its nock.

"I think so."

Wolt paused to check his work. With a hum of approval, he lowered his bow to his side. "Okay. If you need anything, just say so. Otherwise, we need to be really quiet. Make sure not to brush against any tree limbs, and watch where you're walking."

"What do you want me to do?"

"...Pay very close attention to our surroundings. Watch for tracks, that sort of thing. Listen for the sound of footsteps on leaves. Once we get somewhere near a stream, we'll probably stop and wait to see if anything shows up."

Sue nodded. "If I notice anything...?"

"Grab my arm or something."

"Okay."

Wolt started off through the trees in the opposite direction from which they came. Sue followed diligently, making sure to stay as close as possible. The forest was much thicker than she had imagined. She really didn't feel like getting lost.

This little trek lasted maybe three minutes before Wolt froze in front of her. He held his arm out to the side, fingers splayed in an unmistakable gesture. Sue halted in her tracks immediately and watched as he raised his bow and nocked an arrow on the string with amazing silence and fluidity. Curious, she peered around his shoulders to see what could possibly have struck him so dead serious.

There was a buck standing in the center of a clearing, the very sight of serenity as he feasted on the tall grass that surrounded him, bathed in the golden hues of the rising sun. Sue had heard enough stories among the men from both Sacae and Lycia who fancied themselves hunters to know that this never happened. Furthermore, while the distance was too far for her to get an exact count, she could make out the shape and size of the buck's antlers. He had to be at least twenty-six point. This made the whole occurrence even more awe-inspiring and seemingly drawn from a hunter's tall tale.

Sue's focus was torn between Wolt's back as he aimed and the spectacular sight of the single deer in the clearing. She quickly found herself distracted by the former. Wolt knew what he was doing, and the confidence he displayed as he let the arrow fly was something she rarely got to see.

Unfortunately, the buck had other plans. He calmly shifted his position right as Wolt made his move, rendering what would have been a perfect shot as a total miss. The soft sound of the arrow sinking into a tree in the distance rang out like the bells of an Etruscan cathedral in the dead of night. Wolt visibly flinched as the buck's cold black eyes pinned them down.

Sue didn't even breathe as she waited for the tense moment to pass. The deer could obviously see them standing there, but whether or not it was registering them as a threat...

After what felt like an hour, the buck returned to his meal. The pair struggled to regain control of their breathing without making any noise. This took a moment, but they managed to calm themselves without startling their prey. By the time Sue let her hands fall from her chest to her sides again, Wolt had his bow readied and aimed once again. He didn't dally this time, and released the arrow.

This time, the buck leaped to the side, coolly gazing at them as if he'd expected it. There was no fear in this creature's eyes, only a blankness that sent the hair on the back of Sue's neck on end. Was it... challenging Wolt?

The answer was a glaring negative. This was no challenge. This was a display of complete superiority. The buck took one more astounding leap in their direction before letting out the most terrifying, blood-curdling cry in the history of the whole world. And then it charged.

"Holy mother of all that is-" Wolt grabbed Sue's arm and took off as fast as his legs could carry him, not even paying attention to the bow he'd dropped.

"Wolt!" She kept up easily, hardly breaking a sweat.

"What?"

"Do you really think we're going to outrun a deer?"

Sue spoke eerily calmly for someone who was about to get gored to death by what had seemed to be an innocent masterpiece of nature. She couldn't believe it, herself. (In fact, were it not for her clear, calm mind, they might have come out of the ordeal rather painfully.)

She gestured to a tree with lower branches than its companions. Wolt understood without words. He led them over to the trunk, noting the scratches in the bark with an expression of more than just disdain. The sound of the buck's hooves pounding into the blanket of leaves upon the ground was growing louder.

"Here!" Wolt cupped his hands and knelt, and she, too, understood his intentions without verbal clarification. She put one foot into his palms and steadied herself against the trunk of the tree. Once she was balanced, she kicked off the ground with her free foot. The feeling in the pit of her stomach was a mix of fear and adoration as she (literally) put her fate in Wolt's hands. He was strong enough to hoist her high enough to grab onto the branch, which she did with urgency. Once she was situated, she wrapped her legs tightly around the thick branch and leaned down, holding her hand out.

"Come on!"

Wolt hesitated. "That'll tear your shoulder up..."

"Not as bad as what's about to happen to you."

There was no arguing with that. He stepped back several times, took a deep breath, and broke into a run. Once he reached the trunk, he jumped and kicked off of it as hard as he could, reaching up for her hand. Sue's plan went accordingly; he got a nice grip on her arm and walked himself up the rest of the trunk until he could bend his knees over the branch. He made it not a second too soon, for the buck charged by right beneath, snorting and howling and making even more god-awful noises.

By the time Wolt had situated himself on the branch to survey how badly he'd managed to dislocate his friend's shoulder, the buck had returned, gazing up at them. The creature snorted and stomped, and then it started to leap up at them. Sue was surprised it wasn't foaming at the mouth. Fangs would not have looked out of place on its face. "I'm fine," she assured Wolt without looking away from the spectacle below, if not just to distract him from prodding at her arm.

"How far do you think it can jump?" There was a trace of nervousness in his voice that Sue would have liked to dismiss as inappropriate.

"...Pretty high."

"Should we climb higher?"

"I don't think so. We should be-"

Before the words even left her mouth, Wolt let out a yelp of surprise. The buck's antlers had brushed against his leg. As gravity forced the deer to descend, its jagged horns snagged on the leg of his pants and ripped the cloth into shreds.

"We should definitely go higher," he told her. He didn't even bother to survey the damage.

"I agree."

Thankfully, the next branch was easily accessible. Wolt went first so that he could help lift her up – a sort of apology for injuring her shoulder. "This had never happened before, honest," he told her as his hands traveled to lands previously unexplored. She could see some semblance of an embarrassed expression on his face, even past the panic, as he reared her as high and close to him as his arms would allow. His fingers would probably leave more bruises along her shoulder blades, and maybe one small spot above each of her breasts, but it was an expense she would have to afford.

The extra strain on her shoulder, even from beneath, would probably seal her fate. She would have to spend the next week performing menial tasks, just like the soldiers who were too injured to fight but still able to contribute to the cause. Being sore about the situation wouldn't help things, either. _She_ had been the one who agreed to come along. He hadn't forced her – rather, he'd barely been able to spit the invitation out. Sue knew she should have declined for the sheer practicality of it, shouldn't have tagged along when she knew nothing of the sport. But, even with a rampaging deer from beyond the gates of hell spitting and hissing at them from the floor of the thick woods, she was glad that she had come along.

Sue wrapped her legs around this second branch before he released her. "This is almost fun," she admitted.

"I'm not so sure about that. How long do you think it'll hang around...?" All she could offer him was a shrug, as if she were explaining the inner workings of an ancient tribe once more. "Well, we're going to be late for breakfast. Father will be sore at me... Master Roy won't get up until I force him to, either. I might get in a lot of trouble."

"We're not marching onward until tomorrow, though. I'm sure Lord Roy will appreciate the extra sleep."

"You bet, until General Cecilia shows up in his tent wondering why he's not present at the funds meeting."

"I suppose that could be a problem."

Wolt stared downward at their captor. "I wish I hadn't dropped my bow. This is a clean shot."

And, apparently, it was a clean shot for more than just him. No sooner than the words left his mouth, the satanic deer screeched and stumbled several meters to its right, a brightly-crested arrow jutting out of its side. There was a definitive moment of silence before it wobbled and fell to the bed of leaves below, never to give chase to innocent hunters again. Sue and Wolt waited for the telltale crunching of footsteps, eager to see who had felled the creature that had almost eaten them alive.

Shin meandered into view, staring up at them with absolute disapproval etched into his every feature. "Lady Sue. I knew this was a bad idea."

Sue frowned and crossed one arm over her midriff, the other hanging uselessly at her side. She didn't speak. Wolt's amusement was clearly rising the longer she continued to pout.

"That was a good shot!" came another voice from below, and the pair's attention turned to the young man who was tromping towards Shin like a lost puppy. Shin didn't bother to turn towards Zeiss. "That buck is _huge_."

Wolt grumbled something under his breath, no longer captivated by Sue's sudden abrasiveness. The kill would have been his, after all. Anybody would be disappointed.

"Help me get this somewhere we can clean it," Shin ordered his friend. "Lady Sue, I trust you can make it back to camp."

"Of course." Sue was none too happy. Wolt was none too happy. They sat in unhappy silence until Shin and Zeiss had dragged the buck's corpse off, and remained that way until several minutes thereafter. "You know," Sue finally said, "I think this is the first time I've ever climbed a tree this tall."

"Really now?"

"Well... Sacae is the land of endless plains. It is not the land of endless trees, nor of trees that never end."

"What do you mean by that?" Wolt turned to face her with a mildly confused smile.

"This tree... is so tall."

"And...?"

Without the screaming, hissing deer charging up the trunk of the tree at them, Sue was getting rather antsy. Returning to the ground was her first and foremost goal. "I've never been up this high. I don't like it."

"You're afraid of heights?"

"No." Yes. _Something._ "...Maybe."

"Then why-"

"Just get me down from here."

"O-okay."

"Wolt?"

"Yeah...?"

"Let's go hunting again sometime."


End file.
